What a session! The tide was strong (110) but waves were perfect and we were only 2. I stayed alone in the water for 45mn more. Even the water was cold, it was nearly a dream session: easy to take hollow but not too fast waves !

Good surf session even though it was super cold! Had to throw on the booties for only the third time this year! Waves started to pick up around 4 when it hit high tide. But by then the offshore wind was pretty strong. Waves were pretty weak and mushy but got a few quick hits before the wind forced you out the back.

It was really cold ! I had to stop my session after 1:30... As I was the first in the water, I took a too short board, I should have take the 6'8". Nethermind, as the waves were glassy, the big point was to take off. After the board was perfect.

8 AM after the big blow yesterday drove down to 54th Place on the Peninsular at Belmont Shore, Long Beach (inside the break wall and the back side of Seal Beach River Jetty). Cold offshore breeze with stormy chest to head high peaks breaking close to the shore in milky grey water.

54th Place LB 2010 Nice peak 54th Place LB 2005

The Professor came down to check it out but as he was still feeling a little "under the weather" gave it a pass. Suited up and paddled out, only a handful of guys out. Stiff shore break with a bite and a rip channel to get through. First wave was big set wave that broke like a mini pipe and got totally pounded.

54th Place LB 1997 54th Place LB 1997

Added to the fact that both the air and water temps were in the very low 50F's I
noticed that somehow tiny sharp pieces of gravel from the bottom had gotten into my booties and were trapped under my toes, so every time I popped up they felt like broken glass on my poor numb tootsies!

Only caught one decent set wave, took off got covered up then came off the lip into the washing machine, a boogie boarder got totally barreled on a late drop in. As the tide came in, the wind shifted to side shore and the swell also dropped so it was only a very small window.

“We have everything going today,” said the Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer.

Long Beach, Seal Beach, San Pedro and Huntington Beach were hit hardest by the fast-moving storm, which flooded streets, damaged homes, produced hail and ice and stranded cars on the 710 Freeway.

Witnesses reported seeing a tornado touch down in Sunset Beach and lift boats out of the water as it came onshore, sheriff’s officials said.

Sheriff’s deputies were responding to reports that a tornado or waterspout had touched down near Anderson Street and Pacific Coast Highway, lifting several catamarans 30 feet to 50 feet in the air, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Scott Seaton, 60, is the manager of the Peter’s Landing marina. He said he was in the office with his wife when they got a computer warning that a tornado warning had been issued.

He said they watched out the window as the “cyclone,” as Seaton described it, came over their building and touched down in the marina. It stayed there for a while before moving down the marina, getting stronger.

At one point, Seaton said, it picked up a 40-foot sailing catamaran and twirled it several feet in the air. The catamaran dropped back into the water on top of another boat.

(More reports from Irvine, Long Beach, San Pedro, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Ventura County after the jump)

There was damage to that catamaran as well as a small whaler.

“It was just amazing watching that thing dance up in the air,” he said of the catamaran. “As quick as it came it was gone. I can’t even imagine seeing a monster one because this thing seemed so powerful,” Seaton said of the funnel cloud. “When it came it was just ‘boom.’ It was just unbelievable.”

Heavy rains caused a roof to collapse at Tropitone Furniture Co., at 5 Marconi in Irvine. Police said the company’s 115 employees evacuated the building. A woman who answered the phone at the company said no one was injured.

Hundreds of vehicles were stuck on the 710 Freeway in Long Beach this afternoon in rain-caused floods, authorities said. Firefighters responded this afternoon to the 710 Freeway between Ocean Boulevard and 6th Street, said Long Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Hayes, attempting to remove hundreds of vehicles that were floating in standing water.

Other rain-related flooding was reported throughout Long Beach, Hayes said, including several intersections that were blocked with floating vehicles.

The Los Angeles Police Department has called a tactical alert and is evacuating homes in San Pedro. The department has also shutdown an area between Pacific and Gaffey and 4th and 7th streets hit by the worst of the flood. Officials say a lightning strike hit the Conoco refinery, causing a small fire.

In Huntington Beach, the beaches were mostly empty while waves surged, lightning struck and wind reached gusts of 52 miles per hour. The gusts topped 72 mph in Newport Beach.

The storm was accompanied by rain, lightning, hail, ice and high waves. Officials are worried about mudslides in burn areas in L.A. and Orange counties as the new storm hit the mountain areas.

Piers along the Southern California coast were being closed today as huge waves surged onto beaches and harbors with a rainstorm that is expected to bring wind, thunder and lightning.

Lifeguards also closed the Hermosa Beach Pier and were in the process of closing the Manhattan Beach pier, according to Los Angeles County lifeguards.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

A high surf advisory is in effect through Friday and the National Weather Service has issued a coastal flood watch starting tonight through late Wednesday, saying very large surf combined with strong wind is expected to push water into low-lying areas during high tide.

The largest waves will appear Wednesday and Thursday, when breakers could reach as high as 25 feet.

"The surf is very large," said Capt. Mike Patterson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division, overlooking 15-foot waves at the Hermosa Beach pier, where gates were locked this morning. "It's another facet of the weather."

A second in a series of four storms is sweeping across Southern California today, prompting power outages and fears of mud flows in hillsides stripped of vegetation because of recent wildfires.

Rain should turn into heavy showers with thunder, lightning and gusty winds by this afternoon and evening, dumping between ¾ and 1 ½ inches, according to forecasters. The storm could bring hail and weak, isolated tornadoes inland and off the coast.

"It's a fast mover with gusty winds behind it, so it should be out of the area before midnight," said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Authorities are urging caution during the afternoon commute, when the brunt of today's storm is expected to hit. They are also warning people to stay inside during the lightning and thunder.

"If you hear it roar, go indoors," Seto said!"

Buddies:

Created: Wednesday January 20 2010 05:53:38 PM

Modified: Wednesday January 20 2010 06:04:22 PM

Hits: 2176

Session:

Saying it was good is being generous, but the best I've had in a while. Stomach high with chest high sets. Long lulls. Glassy with some decent shoulders... its just been closing or crumbling lately so it was nice for some clean peaky surf even though it was small.

Sundays Session at El Porto was fun again. It was a little smaller than Saturday, but I still got some good waves. More longboarders out though :( . All in all it was a fun weekend and I can't wait until the new swell to hit. Hopefully this next swell will get the horeshoe pier going. Tides lookm pretty favorable this week. Could be fun.

Another session that makes one miss the great waves of the South Pacific. The first of a three day swell period and I have cleared my schedule for the weekend and am taking Monday off so I can maximize my in water time, but it is time for a hood and booties!

Saturday morning at El Porto was super fun and a little crowded. I still got tons of waves. There was a left at Rosecrans it was mushy on the take off, so you can a couple of turns and then wave just through on the inside shorebreak. There were alot of makeable barrels, but most were not. It was a good time.

This was the first time I'd surfed in about ten years. Having been a skater and a snow boarder, I don't have trouble getting vertical, but it took me a few rounds before I was able to control things comfortably.

After about two hours, the waves were ridiculous. The frequency was so short that I was still trying to get over the last before the next hit. I got past the breaks after much effort, watched things a bit, then took my time until I got a decent wave that took me most of the way back in, then started the whole thing over again.

Coming back into surfing here is probably not the best scenario, but it was a beautiful day and a nice beach, even though the crowd was heavy.